Sempiternal

Word of the Day

sempiternal \ sem-pih-TER-nul \ adjective

: of never-ending duration

: eternal

EXAMPLES

No matter how much we try to analyze it, the question of which came first, the chicken or the egg, will be a matter of sempiternal debate.

"But by Page 10, I knew I'd never read 'Moby-Dick.' The novel— if you can call such an idiosyncratic book by any generic name—hit me like a storm out of nowhere. It contained a wild deluge of thoughts and ideas and sempiternal images."

— Amy Wilentz, Los Angeles Times, May 1, 2011

DID YOU KNOW?

Despite their similarities, sempiternal and eternal come from different roots. Sempiternal is derived from the Late Latin sempiternalis and ultimately from semper, Latin for "always." (You may recognize semper as a key element in the motto of the U.S. Marine Corps: semper fidelis, meaning "always faithful.")

Eternal, on the other hand, is derived by way of Middle French and Middle English from the Late Latin aeternalis and ultimately from aevum, Latin for "age" or "eternity." Sempiternal is much less common than eternal, but some writers have found it useful. Ralph Waldo Emerson, for example, wrote, "The one thing which we seek with insatiable desire is to forget ourselves, … to lose our sempiternal memory, and to do something without knowing how or why…."

Homage

Word of the Day

homage \ AH-mij \  noun

1: something done or given as an acknowledgement of a vassal's duty to his Lord

2a: respect

2b : tribute

EXAMPLES

One scene in the movie was clearly the director's homage to his mentor and idol.

"Click through the slideshow to preview Fili’s homage to Italian typography, including elegant signs for trattorias, … cinemas, and more." 

— Erica Schwiegershausen, New York Magazine, September 17, 2014

DID YOU KNOW?

The root of homage is homo-, the Latin root meaning "man." In medieval times, a king's male subject could officially become the king's "man" by publicly announcing allegiance to the monarch in a formal ceremony. In that ritual, known as homage, the subject knelt and placed his hands between those of his lord, symbolically surrendering himself and putting himself at the lord's disposal and under his jurisdiction. A bond was thus forged between the two; the vassal's part was to revere and serve his lord, and the lord's role was to protect the vassal and his family. Over time, homage was extended from the ceremony to the acts of duty and respect done for the lord, and eventually to any respectful act or tribute.

Lyric

Word of the Day

lyric \ LEER-ik \ adjective

1a: suitable for singing

1b: melodic

 

2: expressing direct usually intense personal emotion

EXAMPLES

The critics are praising Jessica's debut novel as a lyric masterpiece that bravely lays out the emotional tensions experienced by its young protagonist.

"Virtually all of Big Jim’s lyric digressions were on writers. When Big Jim talked about Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman or whomever, he spoke and we listened and learned."

— Frank Clancy, Savannah Morning News, September 23, 2014

DID YOU KNOW?

To the ancient Greeks, anything lyrikos was appropriate to the lyre. That elegant stringed instrument was highly regarded by the Greeks and was used to accompany intensely personal poetry that revealed the thoughts and feelings of the poet.

When the adjective lyric, a descendant of lyrikos, was adopted into English in the 1500s, it too referred to things pertaining or adapted to the lyre. Initially, it was applied to poetic forms (such as elegies, odes, or sonnets) that expressed strong emotion, to poets who wrote such works, or to things that were meant to be sung; over time, it was extended to anything musical or rhapsodic. Nowadays, lyric is also used as a noun naming either a type of poem or the words of a song.